Best Books
by Gigi Little, November 2, 2023 8:10 AM
It’s coming! Do you feel it? That rumble under your feet? That is the approach of something amazing! In fact, it’s so thunderous that the trees are shaking and the ground is jumping and — careful! — you can hardly stay on your feet, until… almost… almost… YES, it’s here! The very first of Powell’s Best Books of 2023 lists. My very favorite category: Kids and Teens.
No wonder it made such a rumbly ruckus as it came. It’s sooooo heavy — filled with ten tons of terrific tomes: from picture books to medieval romcoms, from graphic memoirs to gothic horror. You’ll find giant jellyfish, brainy minotaurs, witch’s...
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Q&As
by Gigi Little, April 17, 2023 9:18 AM
Cathy Camper, recipient of the 2022 Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award, is best known for her Lowriders books, a kids' graphic novel series that explores ambition, ingenuity, diversity, and good old friendship through the action-packed and Spanish-language-studded adventures of three friends who love lowrider cars. Recently, Cathy's also been getting into picture books as well. Ten Ways to Hear Snow is a beautifully quiet story about a grandmother, a granddaughter, and the unassuming perfection of kindness. And her latest, Arab Arab All Year Long! is a joyful celebration of Arab culture and tradition...
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Best Books
by Gigi Little, October 28, 2022 8:32 AM
I’m not excited at all. Well, maybe a little. OK, I’m EXCITEDDD. Because once again it’s time to announce our favorite kids’ and young adult books of the year!
And this year’s list has it all! Magical stories, love stories, family sagas, tales of home and school, gothic mysteries, and Victorian noirs. It has demon swarms, witches-in-training, forbidden forests, time-stealing monsters, very hungry trolls, lizard people, questing rabbits, and two different picture books featuring big-hearted owls. And more. Lots more...
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Lists
by Gigi Little, November 19, 2021 8:58 AM
I don’t know about you, but at this time of year (read: any time of year), one of the most satisfying and comforting things to me is cooking (read: cooking and eating… okay, read: cooking and eating and eating and eating). Of course, as we head into the holidays, it’s expected that visions of pies and cookies and stuffing dance in our heads, but why limit ourselves to traditional holiday fare?
With victuals as varied as prawn and catfish stew, pork-and-homemade-kimchi mandu, stromboli with arrabbiata, peanut butter cup banana bread, lemon verbena kombucha, and something called pizza salad...
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Best Books
by Gigi Little, October 19, 2021 9:27 AM
It’s my favorite time of year! No, not because of Halloween. Well, maybe just a little bit. No, not because of how the leaves turn orange and red and yellow. Well, yes, kind of that too. No, not because of jack-o’-lanterns and leaf piles and hot chocolate and sweaters and pumpkin patches and apple pies and candy and spooky stories and and and…
OK, I’m all excited now.
But the REAL reason I love this time of year is that this is when I get to gather up a list of our favorite kids’ and young adult books of the year! With stories of fantasy, mystery, adventure, diversity...
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Lists
by Gigi Little, January 29, 2021 9:24 AM
"I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words."
— Jesmyn Ward, The Fire This Time
From Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, through Fannie Lou Hamer and Dorothy Height, all the way up to Vice President Kamala Harris, Black women have been a dynamic force shaping our country. As we go forward in the fight for equality and the greater good, they continue to be at the forefront in many ways.
One of the best tools in that fight, known and well-utilized by leaders like journalist Ida B. Wells, poet Maya Angelou, novelist Toni Morrison, and so many others is, of course, words: speeches, articles, poems, stories, and books...
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Lists
by Gigi Little, December 14, 2020 8:31 AM
Picture this. You're a writer. You've been working on your book for a long time: doing research, writing, editing. You've put in all the often-frustrating hours (weeks? months? years?) of submitting the book, getting rejections, finally hooking an agent and/or a publisher, and then the day arrives: you're putting out your very first book! And... (sigh) it's 2020.
But even as bookstores closed and in-store launch events evaporated, the books endured. One of the things that has sustained me in this very different year has been discovering new voices telling their stories. In honor of that, I've put together a list of some of my, and my fellow booksellers', favorite debuts of 2020. We hope you'll discover someone new...
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Lists
by Gigi Little, November 25, 2020 8:09 AM
This year, as we celebrate the holidays remotely to help stem the surge of COVID-19, my thoughts can't help but turn to the subject of family. Thanksgiving often evokes disparate images: of the warm family gathering and the contentious afternoon stuffing down mounds of mashed potatoes to keep from blurting what you really want to say to Uncle Ralph. But whether you miss them like crazy or will enjoy a little holiday quiet this year, our families — biological and created — are the foundations of our lives. In honor of that, here are some favorite books that celebrate what it means to be part of a family, in various, often hilarious, ways...
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Interviews
by Gigi Little, July 31, 2018 9:50 AM
Photo credit: Michael McCrary
In 2013, Courtenay Hameister, head writer and host of the hit syndicated radio variety show, Live Wire! Radio, had an anxiety attack so terrible that she had to step down from her decade-long position as host of the show. A longtime struggler with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and OCD, she realized that suffering through persistent extreme angst was ruining her health. So, with her newfound freedom, she decided the best thing to do was… a bunch of stuff that scared her.
As a way to try to manage her anxiety, she began writing a column for the online magazine GoLocalPDX, in which she experimented with activities that made her uncomfortable — like a sensory deprivation tank, a session with a professional cuddler, and a Brazilian wax...
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Best Books
by Gigi Little, December 12, 2016 2:33 PM
It’s that time of year again — when we get to declare the books that are absolutely, indisputably, unequivocally THE BEST kids’ books of the whole year! We love these books so much that we think you’ll unequivocally agree that they are certainly, positively, unmistakably really very good. Starting with...
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